Various techniques to decrease both the costs and the environmental footprints associated with operating various types of facilities have been and continue to be developed. Some techniques include optimization of energy efficiencies associated with supplying power to the machines and cooling systems in the facilities. Other techniques include metrics for measuring holistic energy efficiency, dynamic thermal management of air-conditioners based on resource demands of the machines, aisle containment, thermally-aware as well as energy-aware virtualized workload placement, and integration of the facility with local (external) ambient conditions through economizers or on-site renewable energy such as wind and solar.